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Russia insists Assad serious on weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted Syria is serious about giving up its chemical weapons as Moscow and Washington entered a second day of talks aimed at averting US-led military action.

Ahead of the main meetings in Geneva, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday first met with the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, to discuss a parallel proposal for peace talks.

But it was the issue of chemical weapons that was set to dominate, after President Bashar al-Assad confirmed for the first time on Thursday that Syria planned to relinquish its chemical arms.

Washington and Moscow are hammering out the details of dismantling Assad's deadly chemical arsenal under a Russian plan that emerged this week - kickstarting long-stalled diplomatic efforts on Syria.

The last-minute Russian initiative caused US President Barack Obama to back away from planned military strikes in response to an alleged August 21 chemical attack that left hundreds dead.

Speaking at a security summit in Kyrgyzstan, Putin said the global community should welcome Syria's decision on Thursday to join an international ban on chemical weapons.

"This confirms the serious intentions of our partners to go along this path," Putin said, adding that diplomatic efforts had reduced "an immediate threat of a military operation".

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Assad confirmed on Thursday that Syria planned to relinquish its chemical arms, but demanded that the US first drop its threat of military action against his regime.

"When we see that the United States truly desires stability in our region and stops threatening and seeking to invade, as well as stops arms supplies to terrorists, then we can believe that we can follow through with the necessary processes," Assad told Russian television.

Syria on Thursday filed documents at the United Nations seeking to join the international convention banning chemical weapons and said it now considers itself a full member.

While UN leader Ban Ki-moon welcomed the application, the United Nations would not immediately confirm it had been accepted.

And Washington warned the regime that further steps were needed before military action would be off the table, with Kerry saying words "are simply not enough".

Fuelling scepticism about Assad's sincerity, reports emerged on Friday that a secret Syrian military unit was scattering the chemical weapons stockpile around the country.

The unit had been given responsibility to shift the arsenal of poison gases and munitions to different locations across Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US and Middle Eastern officials.

Reports say the Russian plan calls for Damascus to join the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), declare the locations of its chemical arms, allow OPCW inspectors access and finally arrange for destruction of the arsenal.

The United States and France, Washington's main backer of military strikes on Syria, have warned they will not allow the chemical weapons plan to become a delaying tactic in Syria's brutal war.

Russia, which backed by China has blocked any attempt to sanction Syria through the United Nations, vigorously opposes military strikes.

Syria's opposition has also denounced the proposal, warning it will only lead to more deaths in a conflict that has already claimed more than 110,000 lives since March 2011.

Washington alleges that some 1400 people died in a chemical attack on August 21 in the Damascus suburbs.

A report into the attack from UN inspectors is expected early next week, and report in the Times of London Friday said they would blame the Assad regime for the attack.

The report will include a wealth of evidence that a chemical nerve agent was used in the attack, according to the paper's sources.